Nimetz asks for a Solution in the Near Future

“The Message I bear is that of the international community, to solve the issue of the name as soon as possible”, declared yesterday the special envoy of the UN for the Name Question, Matthew Nimetz form Skopje. Immediately after his meeting with the Prime Minister Nikola Grusevski, mr Nimetz declared that he had not bought a new proposal, but that the purpose of his visit to Athens and Skopje is an effort to speed up the negotiations that will lead to a solution.

The special envoy of the UN, who tomorrow will meat with political leaders in Athens, also met with the president of FYROM Jorgi Ivanov and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Poposki. Mr Ivanov mentioned that it is not plausible to hope to find a solution to the name question if it did not contain respect for the dignity and ational identity of the citizens of FYROM. Both he and mr Poposki referred to the recent ruling of the International Court of the Hague, claiming that from this it can be concluded that it is the Greek side that does not take a constructive part in the egotiations. However the case made by Skopje at the Hague and the Court’s ruling did not concern the negotiations on the issue of the name.

Mr Nimetz, answering journalists questions, declared that “the decision of the International Court of the Hague is an autonomous decision. The Interim Agreement is an agreement between the two parties with many provisions that the two parties must respect”. He added that the International Court itself referred to the obligation of the two parties to respect the Interim Agreement.

He was also asked whether, as one of the authors of the Interim Agreement, he believed that FYROM can join international organisations under the temporary name; to this he ansered that that was a decision that concerned the International Organisations themselves, some of which have accepted FYROM with its temporary name.